1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and multimedia communication device for enabling communication between terminals having different multimedia capabilities and, more specifically, to such a method and device wherein for multimedia services which are offered by only one of the terminals, the multimedia services are supplied with stored, multimedia-service-specific multimedia data which are transmitted to the terminal offering the respective multimedia service such that the stored multimedia data allow for an individually confirgurable reaction with respect to the terminals having the different multimedia capabilities.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Multimedia-enabled terminals are being used to an increasing extent in contemporary communication systems. Terminals of this type support one or a number of different multimedia services which allow multimedia communication via different media channels. Examples of multimedia services of this type are voice services, audio services, video services, information services, data services and program communication services. The different multimedia services are generally accessed with the aid of specific communication protocols.
To date, in order to utilize a predetermined multimedia service in a communication-specific manner in the context of communication between two terminals, it has been necessary for both terminals to support the relevant multimedia service. Consequently, in the event of communication between terminals having different multimedia capabilities, one or more of the multimedia capabilities of the terminals are not utilized in a communication-specific manner.
It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to specify a method and a multimedia communication device for communication between terminals having different multimedia capabilities, which allow improved utilization of the multimedia capabilities of the terminals.
According, the present invention makes it possible, in the event of connections between terminals having different multimedia capabilities, for multimedia services which are offered by a first terminal to be utilized in a communication-specific manner even when these multimedia services are not operated by a connection partner of the first terminal. Instead of termination, without replacement, of multimedia services that are offered but not operated, according to the present invention these multimedia services are supplied with stored, multimedia-service-specific multimedia data which are transmitted to the terminal offering the relevant multimedia service. In principle, the stored multimedia data, which can be transmitted as required, can be predetermined as desired and, thus, allow an individually configurable or programmable reaction with respect to terminals having very different multimedia capabilities. In this way, it is possible, e.g. for a user who is often connected to terminals having different multimedia capabilities, to achieve a uniform, configurable appearance in the context of the different multimedia services supported by his communication partners.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, user-specific multimedia data can be stored, from which the multimedia data to be communicated to the first terminal are selected in a manner dependent on a user determined. Thus, for example, for different users it is possible to store different video data with a still image of the relevant user. A stored still image of the respectively called user is then communicated to each calling video-enabled terminal.
Furthermore, performance-feature-specific and/or terminal-specific and/or group-specific multimedia data also can be stored. In these cases, the multimedia data to be communicated to the first terminal can be selected in a manner dependent on an activated performance feature and/or an identity of a terminal and/or an association of a terminal with a terminal group.
The selection and communication of the multimedia data can be effected fairly easily via a user-individually and/or performance-feature-individually predetermined reaction matrix. In such a reaction matrix, items of control information for controlling the selection and transmission of the multimedia data are stored, in each case, in a differentiated manner according to potential multimedia capabilities of the communicating terminals.
Additional features and advantages of the present invention are described in, and will be apparent from, the following Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments and the Drawings.